242 REPORT— 1886. 



hitherto referred to the family of Pond-weeds under the name Najadita, 

 are really cryptogamic plants of the moss tribe, closely allied to the river 

 . moss Fontinalis. This group had not previously been found fossil, and, so 

 far as it goes, would indicate rather a temperate climate. It is important 

 to notice that these conclusions are shared by such high authorities on 

 fossil plants as Prof. Williamson, Mr. Carruthers, and all botanists who 

 have examined them, as well as by Mr. Brodie, the possessor of the spe- 

 cimens. The Lilia, Bensonia, and other supposed Monocotyledons of 

 similar age are very imperfectly preserved, and doubtless referable to 

 Cycads, a family which then abounded. 



"We have examined a large number of specimens of the anomalous 

 Jurassic plant described by Carruthers as Williamsoma. It is well known 

 that Prof. Williamson, in whose possession or charge a number of the 

 finest specimens remain, has devoted a considerable amount of attention 

 to them, without, however, feeling justified in coming to any very definite 

 conclusion as to their true position in the vegetable world. De Saporta, 

 on the other hand, has found more perfectly preserved specimens in 

 France, and has no hesitation whatever in referring them to the group of 

 Pandanacece. Though there are still many difficulties in the way, our 

 own examination of the specimens in London, Manchester, Cambridge, 

 and elsewhere tends to confirm Saporta's view so far as that there 

 do appear to be vestiges, in some cases at least, of lignitic structure 

 which may represent the areolse or carpels. These rather minute cavities 

 and the lignitic matter surrounding them fall away on exposure to the 

 air, and only traces of them are visible. Should Saporta's contention 

 be upheld, Williamsonia will be by far the most perfectly known of the 

 secondary Angiosperms, since all the organs of fructification and even of 

 foliation are more or less known. 



A still more definite Monocotyledon is the Podocarya, from the Inferior 

 Oolite, originally figured by Buckland, and redescribed by Carruthers. 

 Its resemblance to the fruit of Williamsonia, as interpreted by Sapoi'ta, 

 is extremely striking, and on suggesting this to that author, he replied 

 that he was in the act of preparing an important work on the very subject. 

 The same work is to include an illustration of the most recent member of 

 the group, obtained from the Grey Chalk of Dover, and which we thought 

 advisable to communicate to him. 



Next in point of age, among English Monocotyledons, to the Podo- 

 carya is the Kaidacarpxmi, from the Great Oolite, also described by Car- 

 ruthers, and by him referred to the Pandanece. We have been able to 

 ascertain that a second species, hitherto supposed to be of Cretaceous age 

 from the Potton Sands, is a derived fossil, and undoubtedly Jurassic. A 

 third species was originally figured, without any reference in the letter- 

 press as to its age or locality, by Lindley and Hutton as Strohilites Buck- 

 landi, in their ' Fossil Flora,' vol. ii. pi. 129, published between 1833-35, 

 from a drawing made by Miss E. Bennett for Dr. Buckland. In the 

 first edition of Morris's ' Catalogue,' 1843, it is set down as from ' Gr. S. 

 Wilts,' which cannot mean either Lower or Upper Greensand, the abbre- 

 viations for which are * L. G. S.' and ' U. G. S.,' but which certainly 

 looks like a misprint for ' Gr. O.,' the sign for Grea.t Oolite. In the second 

 edition of Morris, 18-54, the locality is corrected to ' U. G. S. Wiltshire,' 

 but it appears likely that the correction may have been made without 

 ascertaining the facts de novo, for the only entry occurring in Miss Ben- 

 nett's 'Catalogue of the Organic Remains of Wiltshire,' published in 



